Egypt: 1.7 million women suffered from sexual harassment

in public transport in 2015 (UNFPA)

Georgia: 17% of girls married before age 18; 32% among

ethnic minority girls (UNFPA, 2014)

6.3 million Syrians have been forced from their homes

inside Syria and over 5 million have fled to neighboring

countries. Displacement and conflict greatly increase

vulnerability to GBV. (UNHCR, 2017)Yemen: 32% of girls

married before age 18 (UNICEF, 2016)

GBV in the Middle East, North Africa and the Caucasus

www.care.org

A FUTURE SHE DESERVES

CARE MENA Impact Growth Strategy to Address Gender Based ViolenceFY17 Impact Report

Gender-based violence (GBV) is one of the most pervasive and yet least-recognized human rights abuses in the world.

CARE defines gender-based violence as: a harmful act or threat based on a person’s sex or gender identity. It includes physical, sexual and psychological abuse, coercion, denial of liberty and economic deprivation whether occurring in public or private spheres. GBV is rooted in

unjust and unequal power relations and structures and rigid social and cultural norms.

What is Gender Based Violence(GBV)?

“The impact of the war on women and girls has been brutal. Women find themselves taking on additional burdens to support their families by working difficult jobs and long hours. This has led to a change in power dynamics and gender roles, and exposed women to increased gender-based violence in the home, in addition to sexual harassment and exploitation in the work place. We’ve also seen that poor economic conditions among Syrian refugees leads to an increase in the rate of early marriage, and fewer Syrians in Turkey are sending their daughters to school, because they don’t feel it is safe.” Jehan Alo, Project Coordinator, CARE Turkey

1 in 5 girls in MENA region is married before age 18 (UNICEF, 2016)

40% of women in MENA experience intimate partner violence (UNFPA, 2014)

While data is difficult to obtain, sexual harassment is believed to be the most common form of GBV in MENA. 99% of women in Egypt have been sexually harassed (UN Women, 2013)

CARE Addresses Three Key Forms of GBV in MENA

Real lives: Child, Early, and Forced Marriage

This is the seven month old daughter of a 16 year old Syrian refugee girl living in Lebanon, who married at age 14, and left school after the 5th grade. Young mothers and children face serious health risks from early pregnancies and childbirth. Early marriages negatively impact education and hinder girls’ opportunities to pursue their aspirations.

Real lives: Sexual HarassmentInteractive Theatre Sessions Raising Awareness of Gender-Based Violence in Mafraq, Jordan, 2015

Real lives: Domestic Violence

Deema and Samir were married in their home of Syria. They came to Egypt soon after troubles began in their country, but did not anticipate the scale of difficulty they would face: the economic hardships created domestic strife, which permeated their relationship with each other and with their children. “When we came to Egypt,” said Samir, “there was a second war—at home.”

“Whenever I got harassed, I was afraid to say anything,” says Sara, now a volunteer with CARE Egypt’s Safe Cities program. “They always blame the girl, saying “You are shameless and insolent; you must have provoked him by the way you dress.” Fear of sexual harassment prevents girls from going to school, and women from working outside their homes when they are singled out for harassment and discrimination in public places.

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Our Foundations: Current GBV Programming in the Wider MENA Region

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Refugee girls face special challenges. CARE works to prevent early marriage and

make sure girls go to school.

CARE’s work to address GBV builds on our large-scale humanitarian response efforts to the Syria, Yemen and Iraq crises, as well as our programs to increase economic empowerment for women and youth across the wider MENA region.

Influence and challenge the social and cultural norms that help perpetuate acts of violence. Our efforts include working with men and boys as champions of change. In Egypt, CARE’s Safe Cities Project worked with tuktuk drivers to train and educate them against harassment. The method encouraged drivers to recruit others to the campaign, distributing ‘My tuktuk is safe, with no harassment or drug addiction’ stickers to those that join. The stickers help women identify safe, harassment-free transportation. In Lebanon, CARE is working with role model girls in secondary school to target younger girls and their families to stay in or go back to school and avoid risks of early marriage through a “Positive Deviants” campaign.

Empower women and girlsCARE supports activities such as economic development, education, leadership and life skills training, that increase women’s and girls’ agency and helps reduce their vulnerability to violence. CARE Jordan’s Baderi project, funded by H&M Foundation, is a national campaign highlighting local role models, including GBV survivors, to increase awareness through workshops for women and men on the position of women in society, women’s rights, women’s enterprise development, and gender-based violence.

Support community-based protectionCARE establishes new and strengthens existing mechanisms to keep women and children safe from GBV in their communities, such as community action plans that organize watch groups and safe houses. CARE Jordan’s cash for protection program provides critical financial support to families with girls who are at risk of early marriage and dropping out of school due to economic concerns. CARE Egypt currently runs the only shelter for Syrian refugee GBV survivors in Cairo.

Tuktuk drivers- Safe Cities Project, CARE Egypt

Message to the world: “Where is my life?”

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Our Foundations: Current GBV Programming in the Wider MENA Region

Advocate for change in public policies CARE conducts advocacy at all levels to ensure creation, revision, or improved implementation of anti-GBV laws or related policies. CARE Caucasus had success through an advocacy campaign targeting women’s property rights, resulting in revisions of legal provisions, procedures, marriage registration, and others. CARE continues to work with municipal development boards to address GBV, early marriage and promoting women’s participation in public spaces. CARE Egypt has been taking a prominent role in organizing women’s rights CSOs to work in collaboration with the national government and UN structures to suggest gender-friendly amendments to personal status laws. CARE’s direct work with communities has been pivotal in the creation of the GBV monitoring cell in the Interior Ministry, for which CARE provides technical support.

Improve delivery of services for GBV survivors CARE works with local partners to provide comprehensive services, including medical care, psychosocial and legal support, and socioeconomic reintegration. Since March 2015 reported cases of violence against women have increased by 63% in Yemen. Despite this being one of the least stable operational contexts in the region, CARE has launched GBV prevention and response programming. CARE’s case managers, social workers, and information volunteers for Syrians affected by the war inside Syria, and with Syrian refugees in Jordan and Turkey, provide counseling and referrals for GBV survivors.

Conduct research and share learnings with key stakeholders In Yemen, CARE, GenCap, and Oxfam partnered to carry out “a gender assessment to analyze the impact of conflict on gender dynamics in Yemen,” resulting in both a full research report and policy brief published in October 2016. With the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, CARE is currently conducting region-wide research on the prevalence of child, early and forced marriage among Syrian refugee populations.

CARE  in  Georgia  raising  awareness  of  consequences  of  illegal  traditional  practices  of  kidnapping  of  young  women  for  marriage.

CARE in Georgia raising awareness of consequences of illegal traditional practices of kidnapping of young

women for marriage

The Impact Goal

FY16

5,000,000

2,500,000

316,47390,791

FY18 FY20 FY22 FY25FY16

5,000,000

2,500,000

1,500,000

316,47390,791

FY18 FY20 FY22 FY25

1000000

2000000

3000000

4000000

5000000

6000000

1000000

2000000

3000000

4000000

5000000

6000000

0

Our future GBV impact data will not only capture those reached with GBV outcomes within humanitarian or economic empowerment programs, but also (depending on funding), aims to dramatically scale up impact through innovative new programs, new local, regional, and global partnerships, and advocacy initiatives.

With your support, by 2025, CARE aims to impact

to live a life free from gender-based violence in the Middle East, North Africa and Caucasus Regions

By 2025, CARE will support

million womenand girls

to live a life free from gender-based violence in the Middle East, North Africa, and Caucasus Regions.

KEY FOCUS AREAS• CHILD, EARLY AND FORCED MARRIAGE• DOMESTIC VIOLENCE• SEXUAL HARASSMENT

KEY OUTCOMES• Women and girls have greater agency to protect themselves• Men and boys benefit from and support changes in social norms• Legal protection mechanisms are enhanced to prevent gender-

based violence and respond to the needs of survivors

STEP 2STEP 1 STEP 3

Developing country-specific theories of change

for impact multiplication

Identifying data sources for tracking

impact at scale

Exploring the multiple layers of

impact in economic

empowerment and humanitarian

programming

Assessing Impact Multiplication

Our Impact Multipliers

Innovation at all levels. A GBV in Emergencies Innovation Challenge is being launched in FY18 using Scale X Design methodology to solicit and scale up winning ideas from local partner organizations across the region.

Partnerships with local and global stakeholders. With communities, male champions, “positive deviants”, women’s associations and cooperatives, local community-based organizations, municipalities, local and regional advocacy partners, parliamentary champions, and academic institutions.

Self-replication within communities. Community-based GBV programming tend to stimulate the sharing of knowledge and practices beyond the direct participants. Champions, religious leaders, positive deviants and mobilized community groups influence others within their networks. Intergenerational change is also considered in self-replication patterns: MENA’s youth bulge means a large adolescent population that can be positively influenced by parents, peers and role models to acquire new behavior patterns.

Mainstreaming GBV programming into women’s economic empowerment and humanitarian programming. Livelihoods programming, when associated to activities to develop women’s agency and male engagement, enable women to achieve financial independence (an essential factor in survivors’ ability to report GBV). Financially empowered women are also better able to negotiate with their spouses/ family for their rights. WASH, SRH, cash transfers and food / cash for work programming provide a unique opportunity to reach participants for sensitization dialogues on domestic violence, associated to psychosocial support.

Policy change addressing legal frameworks that create tolerance to GBV and early marriage; working in coalition with partners; and leveraging evidence from our programming and grassroots connections to influence policy advocacy and governance processes to foster a safe and equitable environment for women.

The Policy Landscape

Domestic Violence

Sexual Harassment

EarlyMarriage

Armenia

Azerbaijan

Egypt

Georgia

Iraq

Jordan

Lebanon

Morocco

West Bank and Gaza

Syria

Turkey

Yemen

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Status of Laws providing full protection against:

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Currently no countries in the MENA region provide

full legal protection against both domestic

violence and sexual harassment.

While legislation does exist in most countries to outlaw or limit early

marriage, there are still many exceptions in the laws, a lack of

enforcement, or lack of supporting legislation which perpetuates the

occurrence of child marriage.

Our Advocacy and Influencing Strategy

KEY OUTCOMES:

Exceptional clauses allowing marriages to take place

below the age of 18 are removed from the laws

Criminalization of early marriage is introduced into

the law so that the laws serves as a deterrent

Divorce and custody rights are available to survivors of early marriage

GBV survivors are able to access all levels of services that use a

survivor-centered approach and provide safety, confidentiality, respect and non-discrimination

A Global Movement for Change

Contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Partnerships

CARE International is committed to impact 12 million women and girls globally to reach a life free of violence, building a bottom-up movement through women’s economic empowerment, community dialogues, engagement of men and boys, improved governance and supporting national movements for policy change. At the community level, CARE is working with multiple actors to support community members to respond to GBV and negotiate their rights; the experiences and emerging evidence are shared with coalitions at the global level, building a movement that connects women and girls from the global South and North towards solidarity and positive change.

MENA’s GBV Impact Growth Strategy contributes directly to the global movement towards the achievement of SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Our work addresses two key indicators:

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GENDEREQUALITY5 Eliminate all forms of violence

against all women and girls in the public and private spheres

Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child,

early and forced marriage

5.2

indicator

5.3

indicator

CARE is working in coalition with Girls Not Brides, the Global Fund for Women, and UN agencies to promote the adoption of policies that address GBV and early marriage, and inform global investment to tackle these issues. In MENA, CARE works directly with civil society organizations and authorities at local and national levels, and partners with UN agencies, donors and universities (such as the American University of Beirut) to amplify grassroots voices and gains towards broader social change.

Implications of action/inaction

If we don’t act, women and girls drop out of the workforce and school, and are not able to provide for their families or participate fully or equally in society.

sexual harassment often prevents women from working

domestic violence can lead to negative health and economic prospects

g irls who marry young face negative education, health, and economic prospects

The positive implications of supporting women and girls, as well as engaging men and boys to take action against GBV, show both immediate impacts and long term, wide-ranging benefits for whole communities.

“Some of my friends get married because their parents are afraid of

sexual harassment and kidnapping”, says Muzoon, a 16-year-old refugee

girl from Syria, who advocates against early child marriage at Azraq

refugee camp. “They believe they save their daughters lives, but my married friends don’t go to school

anymore.”

sexual harassment often prevents women from working

domestic violence can lead to negative health and economic prospects

g irls who marry young face negative education, health, and economic prospects

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To get involved or learn more, please contact Khatuna Madurashvili, Senior Manager, MENA GBV Programs, Khatuna.Madurashvili@care.organdJulia Kent, Strategic Partnerships Director, MENA, Julia.Kent@care.org

Special thanks to Lotte Renault and Ayesha Kariapper for their contributions to this report.

“I’m very proud and energized to be part of the MENA GBV Impact Growth Strategy and I call upon each one of you to embrace it!” – Salam Kanaan, Country Director, CARE Jordan

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One of the greatest impacts of early marriage is on the girl’s emotional and psychological health.“It will be impacted negatively, of course,” says Hanan*, a Syrian social worker who counsels girls married before adulthood, emphasizing the significant affect it has on the girl as she grows more aware. “As she matures, we see her mental state worsen. Day by day, she thinks more logically. In the case of one girl, our evaluation revealed her deep disappointment with her circumstances – a realization that her life was not meeting the promised expectations. Her psychosocial problems were related to depression and isolation from friends and the rest of society, as well as an inability to fulfil her perceived role as ‘wife’ and ‘mother’.”  The CARE-supported SRD center in Idlib helps girls address this by providing careful consultation to those who visit. Following an evaluation, social workers prepare a therapeutic plan. This includes support for her psychosocial skill development with training in mental relaxation techniques and emotional and behavioural change exercises. The team refer girls to local community centers and “safe spaces” where they can interact with other women. Girls are given the opportunity to engage in discussions and focus groups where they can safely express their feelings on early marriage. “By helping her integrate with more people in her local community, her feelings of alienation will be reduced,” Hanan explains. One of the greatest obstacles these girls face is lack of access to education. Following marriage, many lose the opportunity to study. “A child who is married early is deprived of many basic rights,” Hanan says, “including the vital right to education. Being taken out of school to become a mother at such a young age undoubtedly has an impact on the child’s wellbeing.”Education is key to a better future, but when girls marry, they lose the opportunity to develop a stronger foundation. To bridge these gaps, this UNFPA- funded center provides opportunities for girls to participate in vocational training that will help empower and support them in making their own decisions, as they develop an understanding of the role they now play in their family. Social workers also provide girls with information on family planning methods and appropriate contraceptives.“We want to help her build on her strengths,” Hanan says with a positive outlook. “Through our work at the center we provide her with coping mechanisms that can better guide her in dealing with difficult circumstances.”*Hanan used a pseudonym to protect her identity.